A Pleasing Aroma

A Pleasing Aroma

Even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you.

Philippians 2:17

IN WORD Accompanying many of the Old Testament sacrifices is the rite of a drink offering—a liquid sacrifice on the altar of God. It often symbolizes blood—the spending of one’s life for the Giver and Sustainer of life. Over and over again in the Old Testament, the drink offering is “an aroma pleasing to God.”

Paul envisioned himself as just such an aroma. Here in Philippians 2:17 and in 2 Timothy 4:6, he speaks of the goal of his life: to wholly serve God as a living sacrifice. That’s the purpose of any worshipful heart—which leads those of us who love Him to a deeply personal question: How do we “spend” ourselves?

The resources of your life—your money, your time, your talents, your skills, and your relationships—will naturally flow in the direction of what you love. If you find that your offerings to God, in whatever form they take, are a distraction from your greater interests, then you can know the painful truth and acknowledge your humanness: You have placed some of your passions above your love for Him.

IN DEED We always spend ourselves on something. Perhaps we make great sacrifices of our resources in order to satisfy ourselves and our own pleasure. Or we might invest ourselves in people, in creative expressions, in pastimes, in work, in appearances, and even in service. Regardless of our efforts, we must remember our highest purpose: the Kingdom of God.

Do you really love God? Then you’ll often find yourself entirely preoccupied with Him, His work, and His people. It usually won’t be a painful effort, but rather a joyful endeavor. You will gladly pour out your life, and it will be a wonderfully pleasing aroma to Him.

You will always give effortlessly to that which is your salvation.

—TIM KELLER